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What are Forest Schools? An Introduction.

What are Forest Schools? An Introduction.

Forest Schools are nature-based communities where trained practitioners nurture learner-led exploration and discovery, nurturing meaningful experiences for positive lifelong impacts.

Wellbeing is the foundation of our practice and through recognising the social, emotional and physical needs of participants we provide the guidance and facilitation for our time in nature.

Through creating learner inspired experiences based on exploration and discovery, we recognise opportunities to mentor holistic growth over the course of long-term programmes.

In developing the community, we nurture a culture based on collaboration and of embracing challenge so that we can allow, over time, for the blossoming of character, resilience and empathy, and for a greater sense of connection, with nature and for our shared future.

What Is Forest School?

Take a Look Inside a UK Forest School

 

What are the Benefits of Forest Schools?

  •  Improves Confidence
  •  Improves Resilience
  •  Improves Physical Wellbeing
  •  Improves Empathy
  •  Gives an Insight into the Natural World
  •  Learner-led Learning
  •  Improves Physical Wellbeing & Motor Development
  •  Long-term Observation & Guidance from Leaders

A Typical Day in a Forest School

Meeting outside the woodland, excitement is in the air. The birds are chirping, the gentle wind rolls across the hills while wellington boots search for puddles.

The woodland has been checked and the equipment is ready to be taken with us, our focus in on the wellbeing, physical and emotional, of each person within our community.
Gathering together, we check in on how each person is feeling and what they wish to explore during their time in nature. We introduce new ideas and invite them to engage our help when they wish to.
The woodland space is a blank canvas, full of textures and materials to enrich the senses and stimulate the learning journeys that we will all undertake. As leaders we have both an idea for the direction of the day should learners need us to provide this for them, but also understand the importance of encouraging them to decide their own direction.
During this time of exploration and discovery, our role as a leader is to provide the nurturing they need whilst also encouraging them to stay with challenge and to make sense of the experiences they have. Through review and reflection their voices are heard, and their emotions are recognised.

Our time is organic, it develops through interacting with one another, individual interests and leaders introducing new ways of exploring the space and interacting with it. Through an observation and mentoring process, the leaders are both recognising how they can nurture meaningful experiences for life long impact, as well as recognising the impact that the time is having on them. Through recognising the importance of appropriate risk-taking, the leaders mindfully allow learners to challenge themselves, linking these and all other experiences to an area of holistic development, be that social, physical, intellectual, communication, emotional or spiritual.

We conclude our time with review and reflection, checking in on the experiences and emotions of each person, sharing and recognising each individual’s insight.
We aim that each member of our community feels valued and we recognise how we might nurture their individual character and connection with nature and their community.

Becoming A Forest School Leader

Becoming a Forest School professional means you are joining a global family of child-centered people seeking to change the lives of children by connecting them with our ancient woodlands and natural landscapes in a unique and inspirational way.

In our modern world, children are beleaguered by a system of education designed around targets and outputs…Forest Schools educational programmes are different from any other teaching system in that we place the child at the centre of everything we do. Their essential needs, their spatial rights, and the meanings they seek are at the core of our work together.

Being a Forest School professional brings you into the heart of a community of educational professionals delivering the change we wish to see; Forest Schools’ family of practitioners are different from any other. They have the knowledge and experience to transform the lives of children by re-engaging their deepest inner instincts with our living planet.

In truth, Forest School professionals experience the change deeply and personally within themselves and it is this richness of enlightened experience that is passed on to others…you will become the change you want to see in our world…

The richness of our partnership reconnects the wildness of our world and our sensitivity to life by expanding our sensory awareness. Our knowledge is unique to Forest Schools and can only be delivered by our qualified specialists.

Enjoy your time with our family on this programme and join us to discover for yourself just how and why our unique approach will set you and your children on a transformational journey for life…to be the best you can possibly be.

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